Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502230053
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Gov. Allen used the authority we delegated to him, under our theory of governmental checks and balances, to send bills directly to the floors of both houses, thus forcing each member to publicly declare his or her true position on each issue. This was a simple return to the long-intended fundamentals of our system.
The howls of outrage from some legislators concerning this action are most helpful. We need this means of familiarizing ourselves with the character of our representatives. They reveal that some of our elected belong to the class of popular cowards we've long called ``successful politicians,'' instead of ``statesmen.'' Too many in our traditionally Democrat-controlled General Assembly seem to have concluded that governing a large span of human interests makes no demand on moral courage.
Allen may not advocate a stand with which I can agree on a single specific issue involved, but he's earned our undying gratitude by restoring to our memories the fact that we're entitled to the protection of such checks and balances, and the potential they have for revealing the true positions of our elected representatives. I hope a majority of the electorate is alert enough to appreciate that fact.
EDWARD H. LANE JR.
MONETA
Movie is testimony to true friendship
QUICK! Someone find a movie reviewer in the Roanoke Valley who spends some time analyzing a film for what it stands for, and not contrasting and comparing it to a similar movie.
After seeing ``Boys on the Side'' and reading the Feb. 4 movie review in your newspaper, I feel sorry for staff writer Katherine Reed. She must not understand the development of friendship, personalities and life in general. Although the movie takes us cross-country, a similarity to ``Thelma and Louise,'' it stretches across personalities and cultural differences.
I believe it teaches us how to be human, and to understand the meaning of being an individual. Each character has her own reasons for relocating, and each must come to terms with her own life.
The movie is a testimony to the truest of friends caring and coping with one another. The chemistry between the characters, as mismatched as they are, provides a cross section of an American woman - whether she's white, black, young, old, conservative, free-spirited, gay, straight or dying of AIDS.
DAN METZGER
ROANOKE
Getting their act together for TV
IN THE Feb. 6 issue of your illustrious journal, Ben Beagle (``Board of Supervisors is gonna need supervision'') decried the televising of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors meetings. He implied, in his best Hemingway style, that board members would posture and pontificate to a much greater extent than normal, knowing they'll be seen by a handful of valley residents who have nothing better to do than watch sausage being made - oops, one of their local governments in action - on Channel 3.
For heaven's sake, Beagle needs to stop thinking about viewers and put himself in our poor shoes! Let me count the sacrifices board members will have to make:
I won't be able to wear my favorite plaid suit to meetings because our image adviser says that's a no-no.
I must resist ``resting my eyes'' during dull rezoning presentations for fear the camera will pan the board and give some impressionable viewers the idea I'm not paying full attention to every word.
I'll be dissuaded from throwing verbal or actual spitballs at a fellow supervisor when he impugns my judgment, taking away what little enjoyment we derive from our semimonthly encounters.
I'll have to sip from my ever-present cup of water surreptitiously to avoid any viewer thinking my questionable comments and demeanor are the result of imbibing too much gin.
No, Beagle, we're not worried about looking like a ``sad moose'' on television, but worry over the loss of personal freedom that used to exist knowing that if we did or said something really stupid, we'd likely be protected by the discretion of the news media. When the cable camera catches and broadcasts every word, we have no place to hide.
Rather than becoming ``docile'' from an excess of words, viewing citizens are more likely to react by saying: ``Is this the kind of government our taxes are paying for? Let's throw those rascals out!''
I did pick up one good idea from Beagle's column - a song now and then to break the tedium. If the Virginia General Assembly can do it, why not the county board?
LEE B. EDDY
Roanoke County Board of Supervisors member
ROANOKE
Continued support is justified
I FOUND your Feb. 2 editorial cartoon relative to the Public Broadcasting Service's communication systems offensive and in very poor taste. While I don't have detailed financial records of the involved organizations, just who or what groups does the cartoonist consider ``Fat Cats''?
I enjoy both PBS television and radio programs, finding much entertaining and educational information in them. Try and find some good classical music on a local radio station or a commercial television program that isn't centered on sex or consists of performers screaming obscenities at each other.
PBS systems still have to raise most of their funds from individuals and/or industrial and business grants, and they provide programming that, I suspect, would totally disappear if left to commercial systems. I contribute financially to public radio and television each year, as well as to many other similar organizations.
In recent weeks, your newspaper has carried numerous articles extolling the merits of organizations in the Roanoke Valley (Explore Park, Transportation Museum, Center in the Square, etc.), and saying how important they are to our people's education. The newspaper has urged continued taxpayers' support of these programs. The PBS systems are equally qualified
JIM WILSON
MARION
Polluters are getting the green light
A NATIVE American saying, ``white man speaks with forked tongue,'' aptly describes much legislation. The latest and truly horrifying example is a House of Representatives bill titled ``Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act.''
Actually, 70 of the bill's 82 pages are devoted to gutting laws passed over the past 25 years to safeguard the nation's environment and health. Knowing that Americans are solidly in favor of these laws, the Republican authors of the Contract With America didn't once mention the word ``environment.''
But veiled in the bill's language of regulatory reform comes the sneak attack that Business Week magazine called ``a guerrilla war on green laws.''
John H. Adams of the Natural Resources Council calls the legislation the polluters' bill of rights.
The measure includes the right to compensation from the government (that is, from taxpayers) if polluters claim an environmental rule reduces their property value by 10 percent, and the right to veto rules through panels of experts employed by polluters.
It also includes the right to sue the Environmental Protection Agency before, when and after it issues a rule, and the right to avoid prosecution by a variety of means, including the right to sue government employees personally to scare them off the case.
This is hardly the balance that thoughtful citizens have favored as a remedy for faulty regulation. A year ago, this was the extreme agenda of ``wise use'' zealots. Now it's the official position of House leaders, who are moving at record pace to make it the law of the land.
In short, they would turn back the clock by 25 years to a time of uncontrolled smog, dead lakes and rivers, strip-mined landscapes, treeless forests and dying wildlife.
LIN NEILL
ROANOKE
New mission is not welcomed
FOR YEARS, Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge has advocated abortion as a means of birth control.
Its decision to move from an advocacy position to actually providing abortions amounts to changing from supporting an atrocity to committing one. This is a sad day for the Roanoke Valley.
DON FORD
NEW CASTLE
by CNB